Establishing a Kingdom
by Yami-sama42
Summary: AU. Las Noches is home to the Arrancar. For the longest time, they were lawless and listened to nothing except the brutal ordering of the King. The current King, however, wants an organized society. And to do that, they need peace among themselves. [UNDERGOING A REWRITE - INDEFINITE HIATUS]
1. Ichi

**Hello all you curious readers! Welcome to my latest story! I do sincerely hope that you enjoy it, as it is a story that (once rereading it again) I've come to realize is really awesome. I wrote this **_**several**_** months (probably closer to a year) before posting it, so I've probably improved since then. This story isn't finished in the least (especially considering that this is all I have written for it), but I hope to keep it going eventually. I've have to slightly reeducate myself on some of the terms and characters, but I do hope you'll bear with me. My love of Sonic has NOT died and neither have ANY of my stories (if you read any of them), so no worries there. I'm supposed to be sleeping now (doing my homework, rather) but I decided to post this beforehand. **

**This story didn't even have a title or a summary until I started to post it, so I hope that you'll read it, even if the summary drives you off a bit. Now, some warnings for you people and a disclaimer.**

**WARNINGS: AU, some OOC-ness, a mess of characters and terms that I must get used to again (but for now it's fine), little to no plot (as of now)… SWEARING, of course… Violence (duh)… I think that's it**

**Disclaimer: I will do this only once; I do not own Bleach. This is a FANfiction site.**

**Establishing a Kingdom**

_Chapter 1_

"What's going on in here?" an irritated voice called out. The room fell quiet as its occupants shuddered in slight fear. Great. _Now_ they'd done it. They went and pissed off the strongest of them all!

'_We're all gonna die!_' was the unanimous thought running through everyone's heads.

"I _said_," the voice went on, "'What the _fuck_ is going on in here'!" The speaker came into the room and suddenly each being was filled with absolute dread. The owner of the voice was not only the strongest, but the most _terrifying_ of them all. While most had small fragments of their masks remaining, the other had most of it. He glared down at the lesser Arrancar and growled through the mask, his voice sounding gravely and distorted. "Well?" he pressed when the silence had stretched on. "Who the hell did what and when, and why and how the fuck did they do it?"

Grimmjow tried not to visibly shake from fear. "W-well; U-um… Nnoitra and I were just discussing with Ulquiorra about the recent additions to the Arrancar ranks. Nnoitra and I agree to sift through them and, uh… _sort_ them based on power level…" Grimmjow willed himself not to stutter or to look weak in the face of the ominous presence. "Ulquiorra, however just said he didn't care either way, really, though he was arguing by saying that someone else might be better for judging their strength besides us."

"Hm." The Arrancar seemed thoughtful, though it was rather hard to tell. "Maybe you're all right. It's a clever idea, I'll admit," Grimmjow and Nnoitra looked somewhat pleased, "but Ulquiorra may or may not be right. While the two of you," he motioned to the satisfied duo, "are strong, you're also young and weak compared to several others. Combined with your shared loved of violence, that makes you poor choices to test the new blood. However, it is _because_ of your love of battle that you may be _better_ for this." The other Arrancar who were uninvolved looked thoughtful as they considered this. Most of them could see how it could be both a good _and_ bad thing. Some other just looked confused. "Humph. Fine. I'll think on it. I'll let'cha know when I have yer answer," the top Arrancar drawled, turning and waving an arm.

_Our answer?_ Grimmjow thought. _But it wasn't a question! Or even a request! Hm. Whatever. At least now he knows what we _really_ want._ With that, he huffed and stormed out into the corridor, heading towards his own room. Maybe he could take a catnap and then go rough up his old 'partners'. Yeah. That's _always_ fun. He smirked.

o0o

Sighing, the top Arrancar stepped down the small, narrow hallway and into a darkened room. Flopping onto the soft bed, he curled on his side and thought about the blue haired Arrancar's idea. His story seemed likely, and almost made up on the spot, but it held good ideas. So good of an idea, he let the commotion he'd heard slip by.

Sitting up, he rolled up his sleeve to rub his right eye. It was golden in color with black sclera. It was also the only eye on his face that was exposed to view. His mask, which was shaped simply like a regular skull, was mainly white with dark red-black stripes stretched across the left side only. The stripes covered the forehead, cheek, and chin of the mask, with the only breaks between them being the eye hole and the set of razor sharp looking teeth. The right side was white save for the small black strip trailing from the bottom of his right eye, skipping over the teeth, and ending at the chin. The fact that he had most of his mask and was _still_ the strongest was almost as strange as the fact that it had marking on it. If he had to guess, he'd say that the red stripes on the left cheek of his mask were also on the left cheek of his face underneath.

But it was just a guess.

He closed both eyes and lay flat on his back. The eyehole in his mask, which usually let out a shocking yellow glow (the color of his eyes), was dark as let his mind wander briefly. He entertained the idea of that creep Dordonii helping Grimmjow and Nnoitra supervise the newcomers, but tossed the idea out. Didn't need to scar them for life (death?) with the other's crazy antics and frequent shouting of, 'Niño!' Sighing, he fell asleep.

o0o

He was _not_ happy. Not in the slightest bit. Here he was (Him! _Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez!_), going through the numerous newly formed ranks of Arrancar (as per his 'request') with Nnoitra (as it was also his idea) and, no matter how much he hated him, here was Ulquiorra; hands in his pockets, acting like he owned the damn place.

And, if it wasn't for that lazy, selfish, and admittedly frightening bastard that accepted his plan, Grimmjow thought that the green-eyed Arrancar _might've_. Owned the place, that is.

"Alright. We need to sort through this _trash_ and see how much of it needs to be taken out. The higher ranks, according to _him_, are to be named the 'Espada' and consist of only 10 members. After that, the rankings go from 11 to 99 and are to be called Números, with 11 being the oldest, 99 the youngest," Ulquiorra explained in a monotone. "Got it?" he asked. The other two nodded. They needn't ask who '_he_' was… "Excellent. Those that are Espada can request to have Fracción; Números Arrancar that must obey their master/Espada superior." He walked calmly through the long hallway and made a left turn. Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he followed him.

Soon the trio arrived in the first of the series of rooms that contained the new Arrancar. Several of the faces were familiar from the day or so prior when they attracted the attention of _him_. The ones that were present were a group of 5 males (Grimmjow's group and future Fracción, as he was _sure_ he would get an Espada seat), the two idiots that accompanied Nelliel, a group of three bickering females, two more females with identical masks, and two more very large and kind of dumb looking males.

Several new faces were among the crowd, though. There was one that Grimmjow identified as the brother of one of his 'friends', a guy with an afro, a gothic girl, an Arrancar with a fish tank for a head, and a dark skinned male were also in this room with them.

Sauntering over to his 'comrades' Grimmjow yelled, "Oi! Dumbasses! We've arrived. Shawlong, Edrad, Nakeem, Yylfordt, Di Roy; get your asses over here!" The group of 5 glanced over at Grimmjow and rolled their eyes. Moving over to the stronger Arrancar and possible future Espada, they greeted him in a friendly-yet-condescending way. He either ignored it or didn't notice.

Heaving a sigh, Ulquiorra explained what the three were here to do. When he finished, he gave the obligatory, 'Do you have any questions?' line. Receiving a negative, he nodded. Since skirting around the truth wasn't in his character, he decided to be very blunt- as per usual. "If you are weak, you will die. Only the strong can survive. We are going to test your abilities, and since most likely none of you will succeed in becoming the Espada, we advise you tred carefully. That said, let us begin."

o0o

Nelliel Tu Odershvank didn't like fighting. In fact, she despised it. She, along with several other Arrancar lived somewhat peacefully in Las Noches before he arrived, and she was sure that once he established enough order, things would be peaceful once again.

It also helped that the two were becoming good friends.

"Lil' Ichi!" she shouted into the dim and quiet meeting room. No response. Poking her head through the door, she squinted into the dark trying to find the other Arrancar. Seeing no signs of him, she took small steps into the wide area. As she made her way further inside, she looked around. There was a long table shoved against one wall and platforms of varying heights on the left and right on the room. The wall behind was blank except for the humungous double doors. The opposite wall had steps leading up a short distance to a flat platform that formed the length of the room. One the top of the platform were columns that were evenly spaced apart with dark between each. Walking up the steps, she swept her eyes back and forth, noticing idly that there were dark doorways on the walls at the end of the row of pillars.

Scrunching her nose, she wondered where they led.

Pacing slowly along the row, she glanced in between each, expecting to see wall behind them. What she didn't expect, however, was to see a small, narrow hallway between the two middle columns. Leaning into it, she saw a barely visible flicker of light coming from somewhere inside of it. "Little Ichi?" she softly called down the hallway. Expecting no response, she didn't wait, and froze when she heard the muted sound of moving fabric. Blinking, she leaned in closer. "Ichi…?" she called again, this time louder.

"Nel…?" came the quiet reply. Hearing an affirmative, he pulled himself up and straightening his clothes before moving to the door and peering around the frame. Catching sight of the green haired Arrancar, he motioned for her to come back and join him.

Nelliel cracked a wide grin and dashed down the narrow corridor and wrapped him in a big hug. "Hello, Ichigo!" she cried, threatening to smother him. His eyes were wide as he struggled to remove her grip from around him. She was pressing his face against her chest and it was getting hard to breathe.

"Nel, please! I need some air!" he told her, gold-black eyes wide. Holding her firmly by the shoulders, he pulled his head away and stepped away as she let go. After a few seconds of gasping for breath (which created a weird, echoing sound through his mask), he turned to face her, eyes warm. "Hello, Nelliel. What brings you here?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

Nelliel smiled. "I just wanted to know if you planned on going out today. I'm sure you've noticed the large spiritual pressures that are outside of Las Noches…?" she asked, hands clasped behind her back.

Giving a slight, unseen smile, he cast out his senses in a Pesquisa search, looking up slightly when it found two rather powerful pressures. He closed his right eye in thought as he tried to determine whether or not the two were Arrancar. Giving up when it didn't work, he reopened his eye and looked at Nelliel. "Say, Nel, you wanna go with me? I'mma go look for 'em." She nodded. "Alrighty then. Let's go!" He grinned and sonido'd off, leaving Nel to follow. Smiling herself, she took off after him.

Once he reached the hallway, he slowed to a run. Looking around, he almost laughed at all the shocked looks he received. Nelliel appeared behind him, chuckling at his behavior. Giving her a nod, he sonido'd off again, this time to leave the gigantic palace.

o0o

Ichigo and Nelliel had been walking the sands of Hueco Mundo for hours searching for the high spiritual pressures. Just when Ichigo was about to forget it and go back, Nel pointed to a duo of figures hunched over on the opposite side of a sand dune. Grinning, he ran off towards them waving his arms over his head like an idiot. Shaking her head, the female Arrancar sonido'd over to him, stopping him. "Try a more subtle approach, and use a bit of intimidation if you have to- but not too much. We don't want to start a fight."

"Hm. You're right. That's a good idea!" he conceded, thinking. With a shrug, he calmed his features- both visible and non-visible- and walked calmly to the two that had just noticed their presence. Nel noticed with some interest that their duo consisted of a tall man with dark brown hair and a short young girl with light green hair. She also noted the fact that they were both Arrancar and seemed to resonate with the same reiatsu.

The man stood to his full height and shoved the girl behind him. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" he demanded.

Ichigo, who had bowed his head to hide his own Arrancar status, lifted his head, revealing the nearly complete, yet broken mask. "Hello," he replied simply.

"An Arrancar…?" the man spoke aloud. "State your name and your reason for being here!" he shouted to the impassive one. His eyes were narrowed in threat.

"My name is Ichigo Shirosaki and I have come to ask you to live in Los Noches with the rest of the Arrancar," Ichigo responded, his eyes half lidded to prove he wasn't intimidated.

"Los Noches… the palace of Hueco Mundo?" the rogue asked incredulously. "Why would we want to?" he asked again.

"In Los Noches, we can provide protection, basic needs, and companionship. May I ask for your names?"

The taller snorted but answered anyway. "I am Coyote Starrk and this is Lilynette Gingerback. We need to discuss this. Please excuse us." Starrk turned to grabbed the girl into his arms and used an extremely fast sonido to distance himself. At the speed the two moved, Starrk was probably counting on neither he, nor Nel to see them leave. Nel didn't, being weaker then the male, but Ichigo saw every step he made as if he was moving in slow motion.

Ichigo watched them until they got far enough away, and then waited while the man and girl had a heated argument. Several minutes passed until they seemed to come to an agreement. They used another sonido to get back, and Starrk nodded as soon as he reappeared. "We've decided to accept your offer and come with you to Los Noches."

"Excellent choice. I'm sure you'll be happier and enjoy living in Los Noches with the rest of us!" Ichigo smiled and whirled on his heel. "Okay, then. This is Nelliel Tu Odershvank and she's one of my friends. I hope that we can get along as well." Nel smiled and waved at the newcomers as Ichigo ran ahead.

He ran for a few yards before spinning and flopping down onto the sand. He gave a sigh before rubbing his right eye. Looking up at Nel, he whined, "I hope we find the other one soooooon… I'm so bored… D'ya think I can get Ulquiorra to release on me and spar a little? I haven't had any good matches recently."

"Why don't you get Grimmjow or Nnoitra to fight you?" Nel asked. She hated fighting, but she figured it was a little better if she didn't have to.

"'Cause I don't wanna kill 'em. I'm afraid that I won't be able to stop if I fight them. They get so into the battle, I'll probably end up killing them. Then where would we be?" he responded as if it was the most simple answer in the world.

Starrk gave him a look before asking, "What are the two of you planning on doing now?"

Ichigo glanced up and shrugged. "Dunno. I wanna go back ta Los Noches, but Nel says we need'ta find that other spiritual pressure we sensed," he explained in his double-toned voice. Starrk suppressed a shudder. The other sounded creepy without intending to.

"Whatever. We dun wanna hang around here, we do, Starrk? Can we go back to the castle?" Lilynette spoke up for the first time.

Nelliel chuckled. "Sure. I'll escort you there." She gave the make on the ground a stern glare. "Lil Ichi, go find that powerful Hollow!" He groaned.

"Fine. I'll see ya later." With that, he sonido'd off, too fast to be seen.

Starrk twitched and eye as he and the girl followed Nel back to Los Noches.

o0o

Ichigo wandered off for a while before using a quick burst of sonido in the appropriate direction. Trusting his instincts, he followed the powerful energy. Though not as strong as Starrk and Lilynette had been, this one would rank a close second with Nelliel right after. After traveling for a while, he finally found the source. It was a female judging by the face and certain features, and it was mostly human in appearance. Her eyes and most of her skull where visible, instating her a position of being a semi-Arrancar. One in the early stages of the transition. Dashing forward, he caught her before she entered a dark cavern type opening with steps leading upwards. Choosing to skip the pleasantries, he stared impassively down at her. "Halt. I am Ichigo Shirosaki. I wish to speak to you of important matters." He subtly raised his spiritual pressure. "State your name, if I may know."

"Tia Harribel," she replied, politely kneeling, her eyes cast down. "I must implore you continue. I am curious as to the matters you wish to speak to me about."

o0o

Mere hours later, Nel, Starrk, and Lilynette were arriving back at Los Noches. Ignoring the pointed looks of some of the lower level Arrancar, Nel moved swiftly to the meeting room that lead to Ichigo's personal quarters. Avoiding all the questions thrown at her, she turned to the new arrival with a small, apologetic smile. "Thank you for being so patient. It's not often Lil Ichi goes off to recruit new Arrancar. That, and we're just starting to develop new laws and order here in this wonderful palace. Ichigo-san should be back soon. He's heading here as we speak. If you would please wait here until he gets back. I must check on some important matters elsewhere in the facilities."

Starrk nodded as the tall female left him and his shorter counterpart waiting in a grant conference room with suspicious looking pillars and hallways. Seeing nothing better to do, he sat down and laid his head on his arms. A short nap wouldn't hurt.

**Hope none of that was confusing or anything. I also hope you liked it! (Bad title is BAD!)**

**Next time: Grimmy, Emo, and Spoon-head test the new blood (and maybe experience some ass-kickery…?) and Ichi-kun explains the basics. Laws are made, disappointments are laughed at, and eyes are rolled. The Espada are raked, as well as the Números, and the Fracción claimed; meanwhile, more and more powerful Hollows are disappearing into the Arrancar-forbidden land of the 'Real World', and certain groups get seriously involved. Joy.**

**(Oh, by the way, I came up with that off the top of my head. Be proud of me; I'm bad at that.) Review, please? Enjoy! Until next time!**


	2. Ni

**Hello! I'm back! I've got a brand new chapter for you lovely readers! I've been working on this story pretty consistently for the past couple weeks, and I hope that updates will be steady. I like the pace I'm going at (about three and a half thousand words a chapter), and I think I'm doing well for not having thought this story through at all. I'm pretty much just winging it and hoping it makes sense. I have no solid plot for the story, but I have some pretty solid concepts and such. **

**Most of this stuff just came to me out of the blue, as I still don't really have a plot for this, nor do I know where it's going. So please just bear with me. I'm trying as best I can; really! **

**I must, AGAIN, warn you about the swearing and the out of character-ness. They both appear quite frequently throughout the story, and I don't wish to offend any of my readers. If the spellings I use seem a little weird to you, I apologize. They're just the spellings that looked **_**right**_**, in my opinion. I put a **_**few**_** of my personal opinions/beliefs/theories in here, but it should honestly be expected. Everyone thinks differently, but that's okay. If you have any comments or suggestions that you think might make this story better, please tell me.**

**I've realized that I never really explained Ichigo's current appearance at any point so far, so I'll tell you what I've come up with. (Everyone else looks exactly the same.) His hair is a combination of both white and orange, and his skin is sorta pale white. It's like his Inner Hollow with orange in his white hair. He has the Hollow eyes (in both eyes), and his mask is a combination of both his new an old ones. His personality is what I suspect would come from his neing merged with his Inner Hollow, so even if he seems like an okay for now, just remember that on the inside he's a sadistic, malicious badass that won't hesitate to kill you dead if you even **_**look**_** at him wrong. But he has his playful moments as well, so it makes him kinda bipolar. ((laughs))**

**Please note that I've not read the more recent chapters of the manga (as I watched the anime up to episode 272 (the Lust chapters, for you manga only readers) and I've read several chapters after those, if only because the captain fights in the Fake Karakura town annoy me (I'm kinda biased in the way that I don't like watching fights if Ichigo (and I guess the Vizard) isn't the one fighting), but I've made it up to chapter 372, so I think I'm well enough in the clear. Besides, you know, Aizen's utter defeat and Ichigo's final Getsuga.))**

**I've spent a decent amount of type reeducating myself over concepts, Kidou techniques, zanpaktou, characters and locations, so I hope it's accurate enough. I've used the Bleach wiki (.com), so the information should be reliable enough. I've made a giant Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to accommodate the massive amount of information required to be know about everything to write a consistent Fanfiction, and after I've finished, I'd be willing to share it with anyone that would like to his it all in one place for quick, easy reference without using the Internet. **

**My author's note is long, and for that, I apologize. I hope that 3508 words of reading are worth the 1000 plus words in Author's Notes. So, without further ado, please enjoy chapter two!**

**Establishing a Kingdom**

_Chapter 2_

Grimmjow laughed as he jumped back from some Arrancar's sword. "Pathetic!" he shouted, a gleeful expression on his face. He and Nnoitra had been sparring with the newer Arrancar for several hours, but it seemed that none of the others were as strong as them. That Dordonii guy that constantly enjoyed picking on Ichigo and Nelliel came into their temporary battleground and started causing trouble, so the blue haired one fought him, too. He gave Grimmjow just a bit of trouble, but eventually the dark skinned one was beat. Not killed, mind you, but just down for the count. The warrior figured that Ichigo merely wanted them roughed up a bit.

Just before he could try to strike back, a heavy wave of reiatsu swept into the room, forcing everyone (including Ulquiorra, Grimmjow noted smugly) to cringe. While muted enough so that it wasn't crushing, it still tried to smother them all. Strangest of all was that it wasn't Ichigo's. Casting out his Pesquisa senses, Ulquiorra found that, besides Ichigo and Nelliel, there were two beings that were equally and more powerful than himself in this current state. _Interesting…_

Snapping his fingers, the green-eyed Arrancar called out in a normal speaking voice. "That's enough. Let's go you two pieces of _trash_." Ignoring the grumbling of his comrades, the three made their way to the earlier meeting hall.

o0o

It was several hours later before Ichigo reappeared, another being trailing along behind in a less than cheerful manner. He was humming a tuneless melody as he strolled, hand in his pockets, over to the end of the long table in the meeting hall. Settling in the head chair, he watched as Harribel took a seat father down the table and Starrk had already taken a seat and was asleep. Lilynette was staring around in awe, not seeming to have noticed that their host had returned with company. Clearing his throat slightly, Ichigo looked at the three newcomers.

"Hello everyone." The results were instantaneous. Starrk's head snapped up, eyes wide in a sort of 'deer-in-the-headlights' look, Lilynette finally noticed his arrival, and Harribel straightened up. "The three of you are new to the wonderful palace of Las Noches, so let me be the one to give you all a warm welcome. Now; we here at Las Noches like to keep the entire palace relatively peaceful, aside from the training grounds, and we also would like to keep it from collapsing." He chuckled.

"Things are still in the early stages of development as we are still creating our governing body and creating order amongst the inhabitants of this establishment. Amongst these plans for order are the ranking of the Arrancar of Las Noches. I shall be placed as the Zero Espada, while ten others sit below me. Three others are testing right now to see who would be able to be an Espada and who should be a Números. Speaking of… Nel!"

Said female poked her head through the tall double doors. "Yes, Ichigo?"

"Go and fetch Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Nnoitra," he told her, leaning slightly backwards in his chair.

"Sure thing, Ichi-kun!" She smiled and left.

"When Nelliel returns with those three, I'll be able to tell you roughly of the ranks. I must say, however, that the three of you are amongst the strongest Arrancar to come to Las Noches."

"Lilynette and I are one in the same," Starrk said, speaking for the first time since his arrival. "When I became an Arrancar, I chose to split my power between the two of us, instead of between myself and my zanpaktou."

"Ah." _Loneliness…_ Ichigo nodded; he was taking mental notes of their spiritual pressures. They seemed pretty controlled… "Raise your spiritual pressures."

"Why?" Harribel asked simply.

"I need to see how strong you are." _Sacrifice…_

Starrk nodded and stood, placing a hand on Lilynette's head. He then began to raise his spiritual pressure to astounding levels. Lilynette was bracing herself against the male, but she appeared to be for the moment. Harribel raised her own reiatsu to extreme intensities and stood strong.

"Stop. Please lower it again and resume your seats." He watched them with calculating eyes and a curious expression.

Just then, the door flew open and Nelliel skipped in, the three males trudging in behind her. Ulquiorra was as emotionless as ever, Grimmjow looked moderately pleased, and Nnoitra looked pissed. Walking over, Nel took a seat. "Here they are! Just like you asked!"

"Thank you. Now- the three of you performed an examination, yes?"

"That is correct," Ulquiorra replied, standing behind a chair. Grimmjow flopped in a nearby seat while Nnoitra sat as far from Nelliel as possible.

"Excellent. What were your findings?"

"There were roughly six Espada level Arrancar in one room, one in another, and then there was Socaccio. Whichever of them becomes an Espada is, of course, up to you." Ulquiorra lowered his head slightly.

"What were their names?" the ruler of Las Noches inquired, thinking this over.

"They were… Yammy Largo, Zommari Leroux, Szayel Aporro Granz, Gantenbainne Mosqueda, Cirucci Sanderwicci, Aaroniero Arruruerie, Luppi Antenor, and Dordonii Alessandro Del Socaccio, of course," Grimmjow spoke up from his spot down the table. "What's with that freaky Alessandro guy? He keeps following people around, the freak."

"Don't mind him. He's just _overly friendly_, if you catch my drift," Nnoitra replied lazily, shooting the blue haired one a meaningful look.

"If you wanna talk _overly friendly_, you should've met that _Cuuhlhorne_ weirdo! What a pansy ass," the shorter Arrancar shot back, closing his eyes and crossing his arms behind his head."And, for reference, we made sure not to kill any of the, eh, _recruits_, I suppose you'd say. Don't worry. We kept our cool."

Ichigo made a strange sort of amused sound at the back of his throat. "If you say so." He returned his attention to the patiently waiting Ulquiorra. "That many, you say? Nnoitra, Grimmjow: bring them to me at once."

"Aww, why us? Can't emo over there do it?" the previously resting one sighed. "Whatever then. We'll do it. C'mon, spoon-head. We got work to do."

Said black haired one vocally protested to the nickname. "Shut up, kitty-san, unless you wanna face full of zanpaktou!"

"Anytime, you stupid-ass bug!"

Their arguing drifted further down the hallway and soon disappeared all together. Sighing, the impassive Arrancar finally claimed his own seat, sitting neatly at the long table.

o0o

After nearly an hour had passed, Ichigo was finally ready to announce the new rankings of Espada. Each of them would be marked with a reishi based tattoo signifying their rank and power. Those that were Espada level, yet not amongst the strongest were to be given identical, but small tattoos of their own. All that were left were simply Números or Fracción. "

"Is everyone prepared to listen?" Ichigo asked of the gathered Arrancar. "What I am about to tell you will hopefully be the start of our bringing order to Las Noches. I hope that by naming the Espada, the ten strongest Arrancar of The Nights palace, we may begin to live peacefully once more. After all, we have our intelligence, we have our company, and we have our power. Now: let us continue."

He gestured to the two he had brought to their little kingdom; Harribel and Starrk. "I've brought you here for a reason, and I sincerely hope you'll accept and stay."

He looked over the gathered forces. "I am Espada number Cero, or Zero. Coyote Starrk is the Primera, or first Espada. Tia Harribel, the Segunda, or second. Nelliel Tu Ordershvank is the Tercera, or third. Ulquiorra Schiffer is the Cuatro, or number four. Nnoitra Jigura is the Quinto, or fifth. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez is the Sexta, or sixth. Dordonii Alessandro Del Socaccio is the Séptima, or seventh. Cirucci Sanderwicci is the Octava, or eighth. Zommari Leroux is the Noveno, or ninth. And finally," those qualified waited with baited breath, "Szayel Aporro Granz is the Diez, or number ten Espada."

The Arrancar that were named as Espada had varying reactions. The first and second looked thoughtful. The third looked thrilled. The fourth, as untouched as always. The fifth and sixth were smug. The seventh was eccentric and gleeful. The eighth was in a sort of daze. The ninth was rather blank. The tenth however looked mildly surprised, yet pleased.

"Espada!" Ichigo called. Ten heads snapped towards him. "Congratulations. Go to your rooms and gather your belongings. Be back within the hour. I'll escort you to your new rooms." Various types of agreements came from the eight that had lived in Las Noches previously. Tia and Coyote (with Lilynette by his side), stood somewhat awkwardly off to the side as the Arrancar filtered out of the room. "Harribel, Starrk, not to worry. I'll go on and show you your chambers."

The two of them nodded and followed Ichigo as he strode out of the room. The double doors of the meeting hall closed behind him as they walked down one of the endlessly white hallways. They didn't stray far from the room when they came across a dark portal on the wall. The Espada passed through the narrow, short walkway and into another corridor as bright as the last. There were five doors lined along three walls; two of each of the parallel walls, and one on the plane adjacent to both and opposite the Arrancar. Each door had a gothic, stylized number embroidered on it, counting up to five. Further down the hallway, closest to the lone door on the shortest wall, were two dark hallways opposite one another, face-to-face, and leading in reverse directions.

The first door had a number one on it. Turning to Starrk and Lilynette, Ichigo motioned to it. "This is your room, Primera. Segunda, your room is the next door over. The Tercera takes the room on the end, the Cuatro next, then the Quinto. There's an assortment of clothing in the closets; just choose what you wish to wear and I'll have more made in the same style." The three nodded and entered the rooms. "I'll be back in approximately half an hour."

o0o

True to his word, Ichigo arrived about thirty minutes later and led the two back to the main hall through one of the dark corridors beside the Tercera's door. Once they arrived, the first of the first Espada filed in. Unsurprisingly, Ulquiorra was already waiting, standing near the wall, a couple of canvas bags settled near his feet. He held a thin book in his hand as he waited for Ichigo's return. The Zero Espada moved over and sat in his head chair. Pointing to a chair along the edge of the table, he glanced up to the green eyed Arrancar. "Since you're the fourth, that chair there is yours. Starrk's in to my right here, and Harribel's to _his_ right. Nelliel will sit between you and Ulquiorra." The Espada nodded and moved to sit in their respective seats.

Upon sitting, the stoic Cuatro sat, unmoving, and completely alert. He didn't speak. "If you want to read your novel while we're waiting, you may; I've nothing to say until everyone's here."

The next to file in was Szayel. He was then appointed the last seat on the row to the left of Ichigo. After him was Zommari and Cirucci. They were given seats beside each other and next to the Diez. Nelliel flitted in next, her loyal 'brothers' Pesche and Dondochakka following her. They are toted large duffel bags filled with whatever belongings they might've acquired during their stay at Las Noches. She chose to stay standing to talk to the two males she brought with her. Nnoitra stalked in next, dragging some poor soul behind him. The unfortunate Arrancar behind the Quinto was loaded down with several small, but heavy bags. He was making a visible effort not to collapse or drop anything.

"Nnoitra, you're an ass. Can't you see that guy's not as strong as you?" Nel rounded on the lower ranking Hollow, a fire burning in her hazel eyes.

"Oh, fuck off, you pixie. He's just fine, aren't you, Tesla?" The lanky fifth asked the shorter and stockier Números.

"Yes, Nnoitra-sama. I'm quite alright," the more serious one answered quickly.

"See? He's fine."

She sighed. The two of them were always butting heads. It was unchanging, but irritating. She wished that he didn't have such a love of battle. "Whatever. Alright. I'll concede for now; but you make one step out of place with him, I'll take you head from your shoulders."

"Che." Nnoitra rolled his one eye in a lazy manner, a slinky grin spread over his narrow face. "You talk a lot of shit, but you and I both know you won't do it."

Nel suddenly appeared in front of him, her zanpaktou pressed against his throat. The hierro there broke slightly, a small drop of blood forming around the blade. The expression on her face was black while his was one of terror and shock. He made a choked sound in the back of his throat for a moment. "Won't do it, huh?" the Tercera asked of the Quinto. "There's a reason I'm ranked higher than you."

When he could once again form coherent sentences, he glared and sputtered, "Stop saying stupid things! And get the hell off me! Your ass is as good as dead if you kill me!"

"Hm. Perhaps," she allowed, moving away and sheathing her sword. "Watch yourself, Nnoitra."

"Nel-sama! Are you okay?" Pesche asked her, getting to one knee and taking her hand into his own. "He didn't touch you, yes?"

"You're just fine, right?" Dondochakka added, moving over to take her other hand.

She just laughed and reclaimed her hands, patting the two Números on the head. "I'm quite alright. He didn't touch me, and I'm unharmed." Glancing over to give Nnoitra an evil look, she took her seat and turned to ask Ulquiorra about his book. The fourth Espada just looked at her patiently waiting form before briefly explaining the events and giving a personal summary. She nodded back, a smile on her face.

The fifth just scoffed and sat on the Cuatro's other side.

Around this point, Dordonii practically danced into the room, his arms laden with his bags. He set them down near everyone else's possessions and smiled with a laugh. "¡Hola, everyone! And especially _you_, Niño!" he exclaimed, focusing on Ichigo for the last part. Said Cero Espada sighed and set his head on the table and gave a large sigh. Several snickers ran down the table.

"Hello, Socaccio. Please take your seat while we wait for the Sexta," Ichigo replied, the mask he wore preventing him from muffling his words by shoving his face into the flat surface.

"But of course, Niño!" the dark skinned Séptima replied, sitting next to Cirucci. She made a face and subtly moved closer to Zommari; he appeared to be trying not to laugh at her discomfort.

A relatively peaceful calm settled over the ten at the table. The Números plus Lilynette were seated on the edge of one of the shorter raised platforms of the room. They were either talking or resting, but the conversation was light.

All of a sudden, it was broken when Grimmjow burst through the door, his five companions tailing slightly behind somewhat quietly. The sixth smiled and put on an arrogant smirk. "Yo; miss me?" he narrowed his eyes in a lazy, but egotistical way. A couple scoffs, a few eye rolls, a snicker, and a grunt met his ears. Glaring in a pouty way, he crossed his arms. "You guys fucking suck. Maybe next time I just won't show up."

"Thank goodness," someone muttered, causing another few scoffs and snickers.

"Who the hell said that?" the blue haired male asked, sapphire orbs burning with a passionate rage. "I'll rip out your brain through your throat if you mock me again…"

"Sit down, Grimmjow. Tell your Números friends to sit over there with the others. Once you're seated, the meeting can begin." Ichigo reprimanded, giving the other a stern look.

Grumbling, Grimmjow shuffled over and took a seat after dismissing his band of lackeys. They all went with relative ease, but Yylfordt stopped to shoot a glare of death to his younger brother. Szayel smiled and give a one fingered salute.

Once all the Espada were seated, they calmed. "Now. As I'm sure most if not all of you are aware of, you're allowed to choose Fracción to accompany and assist you. There is no limit, but remember that if you decide to elect an underling, he or she is _your_ responsibility. Nelliel, Nnoitra, and Grimmjow all seem to have picked their own already. That's fine. You do not _have_ to have Fracción, but remember that if you do not have any, I can freely assign you a partner for any tasks that I may require of you. Starrk, I obviously it that Lilynette is under your care." The Primera nodded. "Would you like to pick anyone else?"

"Nah. I'm fine with Lily. We work decently enough together as it is." He waved a hand with a tiny smile on his face.

"Harribel, would you like any Fracción?"

The Segunda frowned behind the collar of her new top. After a moment, she nodded and looked up to the Cero. "I'd like to select Sung-Sun, Apacci, and Mila Rose as my Fracción."

"Very well." He seemed to be committing the choices to memory. The unspoken King of the Hollows was always difficult to read correctly. "Ulquiorra?"

"No," the Cuatro didn't even look up from his novel to answer.

"Dordonii?"

"No, I'd rather not, Niño," he waved an arm around for a second.

"Cirucci?"

The Octava paused and thought about it briefly. "I'd like to pick Avirama Redder, Findor Carias, and Ggio Vega as my subordinates," she finally answered, nodding to herself.

"As you wish," he nodded back. "Zommari?" He received no answer, but only a negative shake of the head. "Szayel?"

"Don't worry about me. I can make my own. All I need is a lab to do it in, which I would like to request, if you'd allow it," he put a charming look on his face as he leaned forward onto his elbows, sitting his chin on his hands.

"Permission granted," the leader told him, ignoring the leering look and the snicker his obliviousness caused. The pink haired one barely pouted before smiling with a nod in gratitude. "If that's everyone, then we're all done here. You are given free reign of Las Noches with the exception of the personal rooms. You may allow your Fracción to share a room with you, are they can stay in their own room given to them as a Números. The next meeting will be in approximately two days. Be on time and in here at this time for the next gathering. You may leave."

o0o

The Soul Society was a relatively peaceful place to live. The blue skies, the neat streets of the Seireitei, the order of the barracks, the-

"Matsumoto!"

The irritation rolled off the small, white haired boy in waves.

"Yes, captain?" a female asked, a grin plastered on her face.

The 'captain' sighed. "Rangiku, there's a meeting for captains and lieutenants in about five minutes. We must leave, now."

"Aw, but taichou-!"

No 'buts', Matsumoto-fukutaichou. Let's go."

The meeting was unsurprisingly held in the barracks of the first division of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. The Gotei 13 protected the Court of Pure Souls and the surrounding Rukongai districts. The twelve captains and their vice-captains were pouring into the assembly room to gather with the head captain and his vice.

Once all the squad leaders filed in, the head captain looked over his subordinates. Then, he spoke, "Thanks you all for being on time. I would like to discuss a very important issue with you all today. According to studies held by the Department of Research and Development, the Hollows escaping Hueco Mundo into the World of the Living are increasing in power and quantity. They are all still under captain level in strength, but we're having difficulties defeating them quickly. In addition, rather than just causing random mayhem, the Hollows seem to be grouping in a certain area and leaving of their own accord."

"Well then, Yama-jii, what do you suspect we do about it?" the captain of the eighth squad, Shunsui Kyoraku, inquired of the soutaichou.

"I am sending Gin Ichimaru, Retsu Unohana, Byakuya Kuchiki, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Kenpachi Zaraki, and Jushiro Ukitake to the Hollow World to find out what the problem is. Their lieutenants will be going with them as well as one or two other officers of their choosing." The third, fourth, sixth, tenth, eleventh, and thirteen captains all stood a smidge straighter at the sound of their names. Turning to the ones he just called out, Yamamoto raised his voice slightly. "You will depart tomorrow at noon! Dismissed!"

**Several things before I end this (even though I've just making this thing longer than is necessary): 1) I very much dislike Barragan. So, he is **_**never**_** going to show up in my story. End of discussion. His Fracción, however, obviously are, to some extent. 2) I'm debating upon giving Ichigo the Fracción I've assigned to Cirucci (I'm writing these notes a couple days later, and I feel too lazy to look for names), because I don't think that I could get her character across well enough to actively interact with others/her Fracción frequently, and people obviously like her Fracción, so… yeah, it's complicated. 3) I will be using both the English and Spanish/Japanese names for the various terms and such, so expect that, as well. 4) I. Like. Gin. And I'm sure several of you will agree with me. There's something about him that screams, "Like me, for I am amazing. And totally better than you." 5) I have no plot, and no Bleach beta. Please help! **

**I hope I covered it all. If you have any questions, please ask!**

**Next time: Fox Face, Scary Healer, the Almighty Stone Face, Shiro-kun, Ken-chan, and Captain Candy head to Hueco Mundo, but they may not be in very good company... Meanwhile, Queen Goth has Fracción problems, and demands ones with less attitude, making Ichi pick up the slack. The population fluctuates more than it makes one comfortable, so Emo and Yam-face are sent to investigate. Niño and Baeby are having adventures while their King is out, and a certain Horse makes a special guest appearance!**

**(Those are so fun to write…) Going by that last line, you can expect some extra fun next chapter! If I at least double my review count (three to six) and maybe add one (seven), I'll (maybe – hopefully) write an omake for you lovely readers! If you read it, review it!**


	3. Author's Note

Hey guys. I don't want do this, but it must be done.

I started this story nearly two years ago, and I haven't touched it in a very long while.

That being said, I never wrote down any of my story notes for this story (besides initial Espada rankings that I came up with being even starting it) and that leaves me right now with nothing to look back to.

This means that I have no idea what's happening in this story, nor do it have any idea where it was going.

Sadly, this means that I must abandon this story **as it currently stands**.

This **DOES NOT MEAN** this it is complete "trash" (to put it in relevant terms).

On the contrary; literally yesterday my mind was wandering and gave me a brilliant and wonderful idea.

But to do this, I'll have to start over.

Not completely, no, not really, but I'll have to take what I have here and change a lot of things.

I have new ideas and my writing style has improved by a noticeable margin since I've started the story.

So I decided to give the story a rewrite.

My deepest and most sincere apologies to the many fans and readers of this story and all my gratitude goes to you for it because when I posted it I wasn't sure anyone would even be interested in reading the thing.

I see now that this assumption was incorrect.

I'm really sorry this isn't an update because I know, I _know_, how annoying an update that's just an author's note on a story you really love is.

It's just that I can't confidently continue this story as it is now.

I'll leave this story up and posted because it's not… _too_ terrible, I guess, and I'll be able to alert any of you followers when I have the 'rewrite' finished and posted so you can go follow that one if you want.

I can't guarantee that this new story will be written sometime soon, as I'm terribly slow when it comes to writing, but I do hope to eventually write it because I really do love Bleach a lot.

On the other hand, I have my hands full with the other story that I'd started so long ago (before this one at any rate) and it needs a massive overhaul.

I'd used ideas in that one that, looking back, are completely strange and weird and what-the-hell worthy, but I'd wanted to have a decent amount written for that story before I posted it, so my saving grace lies within this.

Considering the total amount I have written for it is 13500 words plus, I have my work cut out for me.

I really don't want to rewrite things because I have a feeling it's going to be an absolute nightmare, but I'm willing and able and I'm not satisfied with what I have now.

I'm fresh and back into the fandom for now with new ideas and since the last time I was into everything, I've finished watching/reading the series and now I'm completely caught up and eagerly awaiting the next chapter of the manga.

With that said, I'm going to hold off a bit more on these story because I have a feeling the current events in the manga are going to be super interesting and I'm going to want to use these ideas like a burning.

Again, I'm sorry I have to do this, but I can't write on this story anymore; I don't know where it's going anymore and the writing styles are too different (not to mention I wrote things into this that are different than canon and whoops Harribel's Fracción were her companions before she was an Arrancar oops).

I hope you'll forgive me and await the rewrite.

-Yami


End file.
